March 31, 2010

Early impressions

The quarterback competition isn't much of one right now because of a lingering injury, the starting running back job is wide open, and the many new faces include a handful of transfers and a revamped coaching staff.

There are plenty of questions greeting the start of spring football at Hampton University, but also a sense of optimism that filled the air like the abundant sunshine on Wednesday afternoon.

Under head coach Donovan Rose's watchful gaze, players ran agility drills on the turf at Armstrong Stadium. Quarterback Herb Bynes, who had offseason surgery on the ankle that bothered him all of last year, was on the field wearing a red jersey, but David Legree, who split time behind center last season, did almost all of the throwing.

"He practices as he can," Rose said of Bynes, who threw for 987 yards and eight touchdowns after setting school records with 2,713 yards and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore. "No hitting drills. Every now and then he’ll throw, but we don’t give him a lot. ... David right now is the guy. He’s healthy and he’s taking all the reps basically. Herb is hurt still, but I think he’ll be healthy when he comes back (in the fall). To me, the best guy plays, and I think it’s good that both of them are strong candidates."

Legree, a transfer from Syracuse threw for 803 yards and seven TDs last year.

There are a plethora of candidates to replace workhorse LaMarcus Coker in the Pirates' backfield. Steve Robinson rushed for 510 yards as Coker's backup last year, and Dennis Mathis, a former star at Phoebus High, is finally healthy after hamstring and ankle problems caused him to redshirt in 2009.

"Dennis is healthy, and he looks good," Rose said. "We had an intrasquad scrimmage last Saturday, and he’s running hard."

Jeremiah Schwartz, a transfer from Iowa State, is also in the RB mix.

"You could throw them all in a bag right now and shake them up," said new offensive coordinator Fred Kaiss, back at HU, where he worked from 2001 to 2006, after a stint at Tennessee State. "They’re all a little different."

About Mathis, Kaiss said: "That son of a gun’s a player, now. He’s a real player. He’s just doing everything wrong, but he does it 100 miles an hour. He’s physical, he’s fast, he’s got all the tools. He could be really good."

Kaiss said he's been most impressed in the early going of the installation of his spread offense with the progress of Legree at quarterback and Isiah Thomas at wide receiver, along with the attitude of all the running backs.

"(Legree) will take three steps forward, and then he’ll take a major step back," Kaiss said. "But he’s starting to get it. The timing between the quarterback and the receivers is so far off. It’s all so new to them. The passing game is behind right now.

" ... The running backs have been a pleasant surprise. It’s their work ethic that I’m happy with. They’re working their tail off. There is a deep competition there."

The Pirates ranked 118th - which would be last - in the country last year with more than 13 penalties for 116 yards per game as HU went 5-6 last season.

"The whole offense, they’re still very undisciplined, but they’re not pointing fingers," Kaiss said. "They’re trying to win as a team. I think they’re starting to come together a little bit."

Read more about how Kaiss plans to help the Pirates return to the top of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in Sunday's Daily Press.

March 27, 2010

Weighing in

When he was at West Virginia, Dominik Davenport bulked up to nearly 300 pounds, as the Mountaineers envisioned him playing nose guard. At ODU, the 6-foot-1 Davenport is slotted at defensive tackle and has shed some of that weight.

"I didn’t feel comfortable (heavier)," Davenport said. "Right now I’m at a good 265, so I feel comfortable and able to move around like I should be able to."

ODU wide receiver Reid Evans, a teammate of Davenport's at Phoebus High, is impressed with how light Davenport is on his feet -- on and off the field.

"He’s real cool to hang out with, especially when we go out partying," Evans said. "He’s so big, but he acts like one of us. He's just loose with it. He’s got his own little dance, the Baby D dance."

This, as Evans demonstrated, seems to involve a lot of hand-waving and head-bobbing.

Evans also has fun with Davenport -- known by his nickname, "Baby D" -- in the weight room, where the duo and ex-Phantom cornerback Markell Wilkins lift together on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

But Davenport's attitude has been far from punkish as he fights for a starting job with Monarchs after growing tired of waiting for his chance with the Mountaineers.

"He’s got a good personality," Evans said. "He didn’t come here thinking, 'Oh, I come from West Virginia. I’m this and that.' Baby D has a real good personality, an outgoing personality, so everybody’s just cool with him."

March 26, 2010

Spring beginnings

It didn't feel much like spring on the first day of spring football practice at Old Dominion, but Reid Evans wasn't complaining.

Evans, a former standout at Phoebus High, led the Monarchs with 46 catches for 602 yards and three touchdowns as ODU went 9-2 in its first season of I-AA play last year, but there was one thing he didn't do. After tearing his ACL in fall workouts in his redshirt freshman year, Evans was forced to sit out what would have been his first season of spring practice.

So Friday's pelting rain and gusting wind didn't bother Evans in the least.

"I'm so excited. It's my first spring ball," Evans said. "(We've been) doing all the stuff in the weight room, and now we're out here on the field, on the business end."

Evans said he feels no pain in his knee, which required a brace for most of his freshman season.

March 23, 2010

CNU football schedule

Christopher Newport opens the 2010 football season at home against Wesley, which finished 2009 ranked No. 4 in the country by D3football.com, on Sept. 4 before making three consecutive road trips to Salisbury, Frostburg State and Shenandoah.

The trip to Shenandoah on Oct. 2 marks the Captains’ USA South opener and will be followed by a home conference game against Averett on Oct. 9.

The rest of the schedule is as follows: at North Carolina Wesleyan on Oct. 16, versus Greensboro on Oct. 23, versus Ferrum on Oct. 30, at Maryville on Nov. 6 and versus Methodist on Nov. 13.

“Wesley will be a very tough opener, and Salisbury has been a solid program over the years,” CNU coach Matt Kelchner said in a release. “ … This coming season will offer some tremendous challenges.”

The Captains are 62-32 in nine seasons of football and have made six playoff appearances.

CNU went 5-5 last year, losing 34-0 at Wesley in the opener of an injury-plagued season.

March 22, 2010

'Cuse connection

Donte Davis, a 6-foot, 181-pound wide receiver from Syracuse who had 24 catches for 257 yards and a touchdown last year, is transferring to Hampton for his final season of eligibility.

Davis, who has 62 career catches for 653 yards and 3 TDs with the Orange, is a native of Chantilly, Va., and said he wanted more time on the field closer to home.

"I just felt like I needed to be used more," said Davis, who had 29 receptions for 312 yards and two TDs as redshirt junior in 2008 after breaking his hand and missing all of 2007. "I just decided to come back home and be closer to family for my last year."

"I was already interested in pursuing Hampton," Davis said. "I made a phone call down there and Coach Kaiss called me back. (He said) they'd watched film on me and he told me they had to have me."

Davis also knows David Legree, who split time with Herb Bynes at quarterback last season after transferring from Syracuse.

"That also had a big influence one me. Dave's one of my best friends," said Davis, who saw Legree during a visit to HU last weekend. "We always work out together and have good chemistry. That's what you need with a quarterback and a wide receiver."

Davis also took note of the NFL players HU has produced, most notably kick returner Jerome Mathis, an all-American under Kaiss during his first stint with the Pirates, from 2001 to 2006. Davis hopes playing at HU - "They said scouts are always at their pro days" - can help him fulfill his own NFL goal.

"They have a a plan for me," Davis said. "They want me to succeed there."

March 21, 2010

What hurts the most

It wasn't just that Blaine Taylor's Old Dominion team lost.

It was that he was so sure it could win.

A day after ODU's 76-68 loss to Baylor in the second round of the NCAA tournamet in New Orleans, the image that remains most vivid is the uttter dejection on Taylor's usually jovial face. The Monarchs' coach couldn't fight back the tears at the post-game press conference, or later in the ODU locker room.

It wasn't just that his team, which fell behind by 14 in the first half, lost. It was how close the Monarchs, who erased that lead and went up by two with 12:30 to play, came to winning.

"It hurts particularly ... sometimes you get along in a season, and when the journey ends, it ends, and somebody's better," Taylor said. "You've kind of hit the wall. But I really felt this team could have won this game and moved on and still been a threat to cause problems. So that's why it hurts particularly bad."

Baylor brought the pain to ODU early, going up 10-1 in the first two minutes. But the Bears ended up needing all their resources - a mistake-free performance from senior point guard Tweety Carter, 26 points from shooting guard LaceDarius Dunn, a career-high-tying 14 points and eight rebounds from 7-foot center Josh Lomers - to advance to the Sweet 16.

"An eight-assist, zero-turnover game out of their point guard," Taylor recited without checking the box score. "Look at their off guard scoring 26. You look at kind of an unsung hero in Lomers, going 6 of 7 from the floor - and it was just barely enough.

"So you've got to give them credit. They escaped and moved on. It's the old survive-and-advance theory."

So it is that the Cinderellas in this season's Sweet 16 are named Northern Iowa and St. Mary's, not Old Dominion, which was trying to win its first second-round NCAA game in three tries.

"Jealousy's an ugly thing, I guess," Taylor said. "I mean, those guys are good teams that are, you know, doing good things. I'd play either of them tomorrow.

March 20, 2010

Big man on campus

ODU has done an admirable job of shutting down Baylor guards Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn, who combined for 24 first-half points but have just seven - all from Dunn - in the second half.

The problem is 7-foot Bears center Josh Lomers, who is rebounding almost at will over the Monarchs' 6-10 forwards. His reverse layup - and free throw after a foul - put Baylor up 65-61, but he picked up his fourth foul on the other end with 4:01 to go.

Dunn just knocked down a 3, though, and Carter hit a layup after driving the baseline uncontested to put Baylor up 70-62 with 2:40 to play.

Necessary response

ODU, down 10 at halftime to Baylor, opened the second half with a 7-0 run, capped by Ben Finney's 3-pointer, to pull within 38-35 and force a quick timeout by the Bears.

Sophomore guard Kent Bazemore sparked the run with a steal, a slam and a defensive rebound.

Frank Hassell's slam cut Baylor's lead to 38-37 with 17:08 to play and showed the Monarchs have every intention of fighting back after taking the Bears' best shot to open the game.

ODU just suffered another blow, though, when - after LaceDarius Dunn hit a 3 to boost Baylor's lead to six - Frank Hassell was called for swinging an elbow on a rebound. That gave Hassell, who had 15 points in the Monarchs' win against Notre Dame, his third foul with 14:16 left.

The Monarchs responded again, though, on Ben Finney's 3-pointer, seconds after Dunn picked up his third foul away from the ball. And Finney just hit another 3, his third of the half, to tie the game at 45.

Bazemore, fouled in transition after a defensive rebound, just made two free throws to put ODU up 49-47, the Monarchs' first lead since it was 1-0. Dunn and Tweety Carter have struggled to find open looks against ODU's zone after combining to torch the Monarchs for 24 first-half points.

ODU, which fell behind Notre Dame by nine in the first half, has been called long, physical and athletic this season. Go ahead and move resilient to the top of the adjective list.

Searching for a spark

Blaine Taylor isn't usually at a loss for words. Good thing, because Old Dominion's coach will need to pull some magical motivation out of his loquacious bag of tricks in the locker room.

The Monarchs, looking for their first NCAA second-round victory in three tries, trail Baylor 38-28 at halftime in New Orleans.

Third-seeded Baylor blitzed the 11th-seeded Monarchs in a 10-1 start and led by as many as 14 in a first half that saw the Bears shoot 55.6 percent and make six of their nine 3-point attempts. Senior guard Tweety Carter had 10 points, including a runner at the buzzer that pushed Baylor's lead back to double digits, while LaceDarius Dunn led all scorers with 14.

Gerald Lee has 10 points for ODU, which was 10-of-28 from the floor.

The Monarchs, 51-50 winners against Notre Dame on Thursday, will have to slow down the Dunn-Carter combo, close out faster on shooters and toughen up a baseline defense that has yielded several high-flying alley-oops. ODU has held its own against a bigger Bears frontline, grabbing 15 rebounds to Baylor's 16, but there's not much need for rebounds when shooting 15-of-27.

ODU has had some success in switching to a zone against the Bears, and may need to mix it up more to rally and earn its first-ever Sweet 16 trip.

Baylor bombs away

It's been just about the best start Baylor could have imagined. The Bears have made their first four shots, including two 3's, and have forced two turnovers to lead Old Dominion 10-1 in the early going of the teams' second-round NCAA game in New Orleans.

Far-from-shy guards LaceDarius Dunn (251 3 attempts coming in) and Tweety Carter (187) each have hit from long range, though the Bears have cooled off a little, missing their last two shots, and ODU has closed within 10-3 on Kent Bazemore's slam off a turnover. (It would be 10-5 except for a questionable charge call that just waved off Darius James' fast-break bucket).

Dunn's personal 5-0 run, on a 3 and a dunk, has stretched Baylor's lead to 10. So far on defense, ODU seems a step slow, and the Monarchs' shots - whether it be 3-point tries or free throws - aren't falling.

Six-foot-10 Baylor forward Anthony Jones just got in on the 3-point shooting act to push the Bears' lead to 18-6, and Qunicy Acy's high-flying slam has Baylor up 20-8 and threatening to run away with the game.

The Bears' victory over Sam Houston State in the first round was their first NCAA win in 60 years, while ODU's win against Notre Dame was its first since 1995. The Monarchs are looking for their first second-round win in three tries.

Round two

Well, the madness got off to an early start today, with St. Mary's dismissing Jay Wright, his wardrobe and his Wildcats from the NCAA tournament. (I'll miss the wardrobe). Is this a sign that it's once again a day for underdogs?

In Thursday's first round, seven lower-seeded teams won, including 11th-seeded Old Dominion, which edged sixth seed Notre Dame 51-50 to advance to today's game against Baylor, a third seed. Maybe the Gaels have launched another round of upsets.

We'll see in about two hours, when today's second-round game at the New Orleans Arena tips off. For me, it's already been a banner day, with crawfish etouffee in front of a big-screen TV (showing the NCAA game) and smaller ones (showing North Carolina's nail-biting win against Mississippi State in the NIT, along with spring training baseball and, oddly enough, European basketball) at Huck Finn's, where the Diet Cokes were huge and the refills free.

The game already has a a lot to live up to, but I've got a feeling it just might.

March 19, 2010

Boning up on Baylor

The first thing one notices - if one is me - about Baylor, ODU's second-round NCAA opponent, is that its leading scorer is a cat named LaceDarius Dunn, averaging 19.2 points per game. Awesome! Immediate selection to the all-name team. It seems LaceDarius, a second-team all-Big 12 selection, also averages 4.8 rebounds and shoots 3-pointers at a 42.2 percent clip (making 106 of 251 -- 251!!), so his name may be one I end up writing a lot.

The second thing one - me - notices is that the Bears' second-leading scorer is Tweety Carter. Awesome again! Tweety, another second-team all-Big 12 pick, is averaging 15.2 points, and he's jacked up 187 3's, making 72 (38.5 percent), while averaging 5.9 assists. The Princeton offense this apparently is not.

Baylor is 26-7 and went 11-5 in the Big 12, finishing tied for second and ending the regular season ranked No. 19 by The Associated Press, with an RPI of nine.

The Bears are averaging 77.3 points per game and holding opponents to 65.7. (ODU wins uglier, scoring 67.1 while grudingly giving up 56.9). Like the Monarchs, Baylor also gets on the boards, outrebounding foes by 6.8 rebounds a game. That effort is led by Ekpe Udoh - there's not a Bob or John in this bunch (but there is a Quincy Acy and a Givon Crump) - and his 9.9 boards per game.

Baylor shoots 48.8 percent as a team, which matches the Monarchs' team shooting percentage down to the decimal point. The resemblance also extends, on paper anyway, to the teams' rosters, where the Bears, like ODU, feature long, lanky post players in the 6-10 Udoh, 6-10 forward Anthony Jones and 7-foot center Josh Lomers.

All signs point to an intriguing matchup tomorrow at 5:50 p.m. EST, and a feel-good one on several fronts. The Monarchs are in the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995, and the Bears are continuing a comeback from a rock bottom few programs have known.

It wasn't that long ago that ex-coach Dave Bliss was encouraging players to paint a teammate, Patrick Dennehy, as a drug dealer, rather than a young man shot dead by a former teammate in a sad turn of events that shook the team's foundation. NCAA investigations and sanctions followed, tales of drug use surfaced, and Bliss resigned, leaving the program reeling.

It's nice to see it back on firmer ground, guided by Scott Drew (107-102 in seven seasons) and led by names that will hopefully end up being memorable for entirely different reasons.

March 18, 2010

Quotables

"Our first goal this year was to win the CAA tournament. After that, we said, 'OK, all the stress is off us. We’re going to play relaxed. We’re going to be ourselves.' We’re ourselves right now. We’re not trying to over-celebrate. We’re going to be happy, yeah, but we got another game Saturday. We’re going to try to get that one."
- ODU junior forward Frank Hassell

"Coach kept telling me to dig deep. He put his trust in me. ... When I got the ball, I knew what to do with it. I had no jitters. I just played ball."
- Hassell

"We had a lot of confidence. We didn’t look at ourselves as the underdog. ... We’re not playing the jerseys. We’re playing the players that are wearing the jerseys."
- ODU junior guard Darius James

"Frank had a huge game. He was all over the place, boarding the ball and scoring the ball."
- ODU senior forward Gerald Lee

"We knew it was going to be a dogfight. We knew they weren't going to lay down. They're a great team. We were just two teams battling it out, and they came out on top."
- Notre Dame junor forward Carleton Scott

"It was one of those grind-it-out games. We had some great looks over their zone that didn't go down. And if you're going to win, you've got to knock down a couple."
- Notre Dame coach Mike Brey

"One of the officials turns to me at about the two-minute mark and says, ‘Man, it’s been a heck of a game,’ and I really think it was."

- ODU coach Blaine Taylor

"It was St. Patrick’s Day yesterday. I guess we have to say it was Old Dominion’s day today."
- Taylor

"It's quite an achievement. It's hard for me to put in perspective, because right now I've got my sights set on the next one. I'm sure this spring, it will kind of sink that that we actually did all that we've done."
- Taylor

On the rebound

Old Dominion came into Thursday's first-round NCAA game against Old Domininon outrebounding opponents by 8.8 rebounds per game. So even against a physical Big East team, it was something of a shock to see the halftime rebounding numbers: Notre Dame 21, ODU 14.

The Monarchs, who won 51-50, ended up being outrebounded 38-31. But ODU battled to a tie on the defensive boards, with each team pulling down 22 defensive rebounds. That stat stood at 13-8 in the Irish's favor at halftime, when the Monarchs trailed 28-22.

"If you looked at the stat sheet, you would be thinking we were down 15 or 20," said Taylor, whose team also shot just 34.5 percent in the first 20 minutes. "And really, the rebound margin was the difference in the score. They were plus-seven on the glass and we were down six. ... We were a little frustrated in the locker room, and I said hey, these guys' style is one where they try to frustrate you, so you can't give into that."

There may been frustration in the locker room at halftime, but there was no fear.

"We did not panic at all," said ODU forward Frank Hassell, who scored a team-high 15 points and led the Monarchs with nine rebounds. "We just played comfortably, within ourselves. We went to the rack. We're a paint-type of team. We'll take our jump shots here and there, but we attack the paint."

Haran-gone

Notre Dame senior forward Luke Harangody, a second-team AP All-American last season and the Big East player of the year in 2008, didn't make a basket against ODU until he rebounded a missed 3-point attempt and put it back up with 15 seconds to play in the Monarchs' 51-50 win on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Harangody was 0-for-7 until that point. His second basket, another rebound off a missed 3 as time expired, came just before the buzzer, but its meaningless was evident in his slumped shoulders.

Averaging 22.4 points per game, Harangody finished with four.

"Obviously he’s a great player, one of the best big men in the country," said ODU senior forward Gerald Lee, who had his own struggles, making one of the two first-half shots he took before finishing with nine points. "We tried to make him work hard for those shots that he got, and fortunately he was missing some of those."

Monarchs coach Blaine Taylor - unsurprisingly - was more verbose in breaking down how his team made Harangody a non-factor.

"They've changed their plan a little bit (after Harangody's knee injury last month), which kind of took the focus away from him, and they were successful," Taylor said. "So now, I don't think they were going to start back over and say, 'We're going to throw the ball to Luke every play.' They were winning with Luke being a part of the team.

"The other thing (is), we're pretty big. Luke takes advantage of being slippery and big and long and creative, and our kids did a pretty good job of guarding him when given the opportunity.

"The third thing I would mention, and I don't have the answer to is, is Luke 100 percent? That's a question that would be up for debate."

The Irish shot just 31.3 percent in the second half, while ODU erased a 10-for-29 first half with a
10-for-19 (52.6 percent) effort in the second.

"They made a real point to bump us," Taylor said. "They're a physical team, and so they bumped us. We bumped back pretty good."

Gimme that wink

ODU junior guard Darius James made just one of the four 3-pointers he took on Thursday.

But what a one to make.

James' 3 with 2:15 left in the game put the Monarchs up 46-43 and snapped a 3:35 scoreless stretch for ODU. The Irish, who endured a six-minute scoring drought of their own during the same span, would tie the game on Carleton Scott's 3-pointer with 1:50 to play, but never lead again.

During a timeout before his big shot, James said ODU coach Blaine Taylor told him, " 'Don’t be bashful. If you got it, take it, because I got a feeling you’re about to knock one down.' When I was holding the ball at the top of the key, we were waiting for him to call the call, and he called that one play for me.

"I always get excited when he calls it. He called it, and he winked at me."

James is ODU's most prolific 3-point shooter, but had made just 33 of the 111 shots from long range he'd taken coming into Thursday's game. That didn't shake his confidence, or his coach's faith in him if he found himself open.

"He knows I like that play," James said. "He's always holding it in his back pocket for the end of the game."

What pressure?

With 9.6 seconds to play and his ODU team up 49-48, junior forward Keyon Carter stepped to the free throw line after catching an inbounds pass and getting fouled.

With 56.2 seconds to play, Gerald Lee, the Monarchs' leading free-throw shooter at 76 percent, had gone 1-for-2 at the line with a chance to put ODU up for, and with 29.6 seconds left, Darius James' foul shot had rimmed out.

But Carter, flashing back to games against William and Mary and VCU when he made clutch foul shots this season, calmly drained both of his attempts to put the Monarchs up 51-48, rendering Luke Harangody's rebound and layup at the buzzer pointless.

"I just knew it was a chance to put the game a little further out of their reach," said Carter, a 64.7 percent free-throw shooter (22 of 34) on the season. "I just tried to be calm. There’s no defense on you. It’s really the easiest shot in basketball. With Darius and Gerald missing a few of theirs, I knew, given the opportunity, I was going to go ahead and knock them down."

The Monarchs finished the game 8-of-12 from the line, with Frank Hassell, who had a team-best 15 points, going 3-of-3. The Irish had just three free-throw attempts and made two of them.

Locking it down

Frank Hassell, who had 15 points and nine rebounds in Old Dominion's 51-50 first-round NCAA victory against Notre Dame on Thursday, came to the post-game interview podium wearing a T-shirt ripe for interpretation.

The white shirt feature a large gray padlock, sparking the imaginations of reporters looking for an angle: Is Hassell a lock-down defender? Did he think the Monarchs, the 11th seed, were a lock to beat the sixth-seeded Irish? If you're looking for a surprise Sweet 16 in your bracket, are the Monarchs a lock to deliver?

ODU does it

Old Dominion did it.

The Monarchs beat Notre Dame for their first first-round NCAA tournament win in Blaine Taylor's nine years as coach because they played good defense, held a second-team all-American scoreless until the final seconds and made the shots - and the free throws - they had to make.

ODU, the 11th seed, edged the sixth-seeded Irish 51-50 after Darius James' 3-pointer with 2:15 to play gave it a lead it would not relinquish. The Irish tied the game but fell behind to stay on Gerald Lee's jumper with 1:26 to play, and Lee's free throw with 56 seconds to play ended up being the difference in the score. (Keyon Carter's free throws with 9.6 seconds left iced it).

The difference in the game was junior forward Frank Hassell, who had 15 points and nine rebounds and more than offset a less-than-dominant nine-point performance from Lee, averaging 14.6 per game.

"When I got the ball, I knew what to do with it," Hassell said. "I had no jitters. I just played ball."

Board work

Frank Hassell wants to stay in the NCAA tournament longer than one game.

Hassell, Old Dominion's junior forward, just scored his 14th point off his eighth rebound and then converted the three-point play to knot the Monarchs' first-round game against Notre Dame at 43 with 5:51 to play.

Hassell scored his ninth point on a hook shot over Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody (who is 0-for-5 and scoreless so far) to pull the Monarchs within 30-29 with 16 minutes left in the game.

Hassell had seven points and three rebounds as ODU trailed 28-22 at halftime. That's largely due to a 10-for-29 performance from the floor and 1-for-8 futility from 3-point range. Gerald Lee had just two first-half points on 1-of-2 shooting.

ODU's defense is doing just fine, holding Luke Harangody (0-for-1) and the Irish's post players at bay, and the Monarchs have committed just three turnovers while forcing seven. Notre Dame guards have knocked down some big shots - Ben Hansbrough has 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and is 2-of-5 from long range - as the Irish shot 40.7 percent from the floor.

But Notre Dame is also doing something few teams have done to the Monarchs: they're outrebounding them, 21-14. ODU came into the game with a plus-8.8 rebounding margin, third-best in the country.

Hassell is doing his share of the dirty work. His rebound, stickback and free throw after he was fouled on the basket cut what was once a nine-point point lead to four, and his follow of his own miss made it 15-13 with 8:45 left in the first half.

Hassell has three rebounds, while Kent Bazemore and Keyon Carter have four. The problem is that the Monarchs' shots aren't falling. Carter's driving bucket just broke a three-minute scoring drought and cut Notre Dame's lead to seven, and his 3-pointer trimmed Notre Dame's lead to four with 15 seconds left before halfime. But Tim Abromaitis answered with a jumper to make it a six-point Irish lead at halftime.

Tipoff time

First impression: Notre Dame is big.

The Irish players warming up in front of me are all sizable creatures, but ODU, at the other end of the court, doesn't exactly shrink in comparison. I think the matchup of the big bodies in the paint will go a long way to determing the outcome of this first-round NCAA game.

The ODU band in playing "I've Got a Feeling," and the Monarchs fans behind me - including the trio of face-painted peeps who are fixtures at the Constant Center - are standing and clapping as the player introductions are about to be made.

Ah, I love this time of year. It's a beautiful day in the Big Easy, and the 1.4-mile stroll over to New Orleans Arena from the hotel was lovely. Here's hoping the game will be as enjoyable.

March 17, 2010

Tale of the tape

A look at three key matchups in tomorrow's Old Dominion/Notre Dame first-round NCAA tournament game:

The post

Notre Dame
Luke Harangody, who returned from a knee injury in the Big East tournament, averages 22.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game and shoots 48.6 percent from the floor. Fellow forward Tim Abromaitis adds 16.3 points and 4.8 boards and also shoots 44 percent from 3-point range, where he's 81 of 184. The Irish outrebound opponents by 3.3 boards per game and play in perhaps the most physical conference in the country.

Old Dominion
Senior forward and CAA tournament MVP Gerald Lee averages 14.6 points and almost five rebounds, and he gets a lot of help from his friends in the paint. Junior forward Frank Hassell averages a team-best 6.6 rebounds, Ben Finney pulls down 5.9 boards and contributes 8.8 points, and Keyon Carter is good for 4.9 boards and 7.3 rebounds. The team effort has resulted in a plus-8.8 rebounding margin, third-best in the nation.

The perimeter

Notre Dame
There's a familiar name averaging 11.8 points and shooting 41.6 percent from long range for the Irish. Ben Hansbrough, Tyler's younger brother and a transfer from Mississippi State, has started all 34 games this season. His 150 assists have been a backcourt help to senior point guard Tory Jackson, who's averaging 9.8 points to go with his team-high 181 assists. The Irish have 573 team assists to just 352 turnovers.

Old Dominion
Sophomore Kent Bazemore and junior Darius James have alternated at point for the Monarchs, who have 527 team assists to 435 turnovers this season. James is ODU's most prolific 3-point shooter, but has made just 33 of his 3-point 111 attempts. (Among players who've taken 100 or more 3-pointers, swingman Finney leads the way at 31.5 percent). Sharpshooter Trian Iliadis can provide lift from long range, but ODU will have to avoid the turnover bugaboo that has plagued it at times this season.

The coaches

Notre Dame
Mike Brey is in his 10th season at Notre Dame, where he's 211-112 and making his sixth NCAA appearance. The Irish are 5-4 in the Big Dance under Brey, the 2007 and 2008 Big East coach of the year. Brey also coached at Delaware from 1995-2000, going 99-52, and was an assistant at Duke for eight seasons.

Old Dominion
Blaine Taylor is in his ninth season and his third NCAA tournament, where his teams have yet to win a first-round game. Taylor is 189-100 at ODU, and his Monarchs won the inaugural CollegeInsider.com tournament last season. Taylor, the 2005 CAA coach of the year, led ODU to both the CAA regular-season and tournament titles this season.

Party starters

So a man walks into a bar ... and it turns out he's one part of the trio of blue-and-white painted people who are a very visible presence at Old Dominion basketball games, incognito without his face paint and silvery threads of pom-pom hair.

He requested anonymity, but I can tell you that he - and neither of his two buddies - are students or ODU graduates. They're just guys in town who really love basketball. Actually, one of them isn't even in town anymore. He drvies down to games from Roanoke.

The three try to make at least a few road games a year, and ODU's first-round NCAA matchup against Notre Dame in New Orleans was a no-brainer. Blue-and-white guy, unfamiliar with the Crescent City, was concerned about walking the few blocks from his hotel to the arena in his game-day garb. I, about to make my ninth visit to Nola, assured him he'd fit right in.

The trio found each other in 2005 at the the Paradise Jam hoops tournament in the Virgin Islands. Seeking a way to show the Monarchs their support, they found some watercolor paint, and the rest is history.

Even in street clothes, members of the trio attract attention from those in the know. In this case, in a bar in the Nashville airport where there seem to be $3 shots-with-beers specials, a sight to behold wanders over. He's wearing an ankle-length green velvet cloak, a green-trimmed ruffled white tuxedo shirt, a white Stetson, bright green St. Patrick's Day beads and green-and-gold plaid pants tucked into cowboy boots that, to my unexperienced eye, appear to be ostrich.

Let's just say that these fans are well on their way to enjoying their trip already. And if the Monarchs oblige their faithful and stick around for a second-round game, I know at least two people who'll feel right at home in the Big Easy.

March 16, 2010

Keys to victory

Old Dominion's rebounding prowess alone gives it a chance against most teams, including Big East-tested Notre Dame. For the Monarchs to beat the Irish a day after St. Patrick's Day in New Orleans, the first time they'll have to do is keep crashing the boards.

ODU outrebounds opponents by 8.8 boards per game, third-best in the nation. The Monarchs' paint game will be tested, perhaps as much as it's been all season, by Irish forward Luke Harangody, working his way back from a knee injury but still an imposing presence. If the Monarchs' board-by-committee of Gerald Lee, Frank Hassell, Ben Finney and Keyon Carter can keep Harangody in relative check, ODU's chances of winning its first NCAA game under coach Blaine Taylor greatly improve.

The Monarchs are not a lights-out shooting team, but they will have to knock down open looks when they're available, including 3-pointers. Finney and junior guard Darius James, in particular, have had up-and-down seasons from behind the arc, going cold at some points and draining game-changing 3's at other times. One or more of ODU's sharpshooters, which can also (or not) include Trian Iliadis and Marsharee Neely, will have to make the big baskets when it counts.

ODU's "statty" numbers, as Taylor memorably referred to his team's statistics at the CAA tournament, do not, on their own merits, bowl anyone over. But that's how the Monarchs win - as a team. No one has been overly concerned about his own stat line, a fact which may have cost senior forward Gerald Lee the conference player of the year award but will be a third key to defeating Notre Dame. Part of what makes ODU's much-touted length so dangerous is that it can sometimes be difficult to identify the limbs battling for loose balls or defending shots. Unselfish play has gotten the Monarchs this far, and it's their best shot to make it to the second round.

The next step

There are mid-major schools who make it to the NCAA tournament, and then there are mid-major schools who win games there.

Old Dominion is trying to become the latter.

"I’m not out for any participant ribbons in this thing," Monarchs coach Blaine Taylor said. "We’re going to this tournament with every intention of thinking we’re as good as the next guy."

The 11th-seeded Monarchs (26-8) take on sixth-seeded Notre Dame (23-11) in Thursday's first-round game in New Orleans.

ODU has been here before - but no further in Taylor's nine-year tenure. The Monarchs lost to Michigan State 89-81 in the NCAA first round in 2005 and to Butler 57-46 in 2007.

"Now the fact that we’ve been in postseason play six years in a row and this is our third NCAA tournament – it’s a little bit new to some of these kids, but it’s a little more deeply ingrained in them, the expectation that we can play against the best people out there, in the toughest settings, and have a chance to succeed," Taylor said.

ODU was an NIT semifinalist in 2006, a CBI participant in 2008 and the inaugural CIT champion in 2009.

"There’s a lot of people that are going to get up on Thursday with milk in the corner of their mouth and crust in their eye and they’re going to turn on CBS and see Old Dominion playing basketball," Taylor said. "What an accomplishment it would be to get in there and all of a sudden show the country that hey, Old Dominion, the Colonial Conference, Hampton Roads, Virginia – there’s some pretty good stuff going on there, and we can stand side-by-side with the best of the non-BCS schools and say 'Hey, we’re just as good.'

" ... There’s been a lot of elbow grease that’s gone into where our program sits right now. There’s almost a badge, an arrival point, where you can start doing the next thing. We’re getting to a point where those next things are there. Now win, and what happens? Is this the year that we can get something done? We’ll see, and it’s sure fun to have that opportunity."

March 15, 2010

ODU in WNIT

Old Dominion's women's basketball team's season will continue with its first WNIT appearance. The Lady Monarchs (18-13) will play host to American (22-9) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Constant Center.

"To be a part of the field of postseason play is exciting, and getting a chance to play at home is certainly a credit to our fan base," ODU coach Wendy Larry said in a release.

ODU, the regular-season CAA champion, will play in the postseason for the 19th time in the last 20 years.

American earned a share of the Patriot League regular season title this year, finishing with a school-record 13-1 conference mark. The Eagles feature league POY Michelle Kirk, averaging 18.1 points per game.

General admission tickets will be available at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning at the ODU box office. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for ages 17 and under, senior citizens and military personnel, and $5 for ODU students with a valid ID.

Norfolk regional

If, as Darius Rucker sang in the lead-in to the NCAA women's selection show on Monday night, Connecticut really is history in the making, that history will begin in Norfolk.

The top-seeded Huskies, in the midst of a 72-game winning streak and looking to become the first women's team to record back-to-back undefeated national championship seasons, begin the 2010 NCAA tournament at the Constant Center. Top-seeded UConn takes on 16 seed Southern University on Sunday at 12:16 p.m.

The other game in Norfolk, part of the Dayton, Ohio regional, features eighth-seeded Temple against No. 9 seed James Madison, which beat Old Dominion in the CAA conference championship. That game is scheduled to tip at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Sunday's game will be the just the second out-of-state opening-round game for UConn, which opened the 2006 tournament at Penn State and won't play an NCAA game in Connecticut for the first time.

The Huskies have won four of the last eight NCAA women's titles and went 39-0 last season. This is their 22nd consecutive trip to the Big Dance, where they boast a 71-15 (.826) all-time record.

UConn, which has made it to seven of the last 10 Final Fours, has been ranked No. 1 nationally in both the Associated Press and ESPN Coaches polls every week this season.

Joyner next?

Hampton men's basketball coach Ed "Buck" Joyner was in the house as the HU women learned they'll play Duke in Saturday's first round of the NCAA tournament, and as Lady Pirates coach David Six learned he's the recipient of a new, three-year contract. But Joyner, who, like Six, began his first year as head coach this season with an interim tag on his title, doesn't yet know if his future holds a similar announcement.

Joyner was all smiles, saying he would talk with HU athletic director Lonza Hardy soon, but claimed not to know which way the wind was blowing. Hardy, too, put on a poker face.

"I’ll be sitting down with Coach Joyner during the course of this week," Hardy said. "It’s my goal, before we head out for Durham, to hopefully be in a position where I can make a recommendation and make an announcement by the end of the week."

And that announcement will be ... ?

"I can’t really say right now," Hardy said. "I just want to sit down and see what he has to say, and then I will offer some input and make a recommendation."

Six, who led the Lady Pirates to their first MEAC tournament title and NCAA appearance since 2004, gave Joyner a shoutout while addressing the players, coaches and fans assembled in the football meeting room at Armstrong Stadium to watch the women's NCAA selection show.

"One person in particular I really have to thank is coach Ed Joyner, because I didn't have any college experience and he kind of guided me through things," Six said. "Our staffs are kind of like a family, so I really appreciate the men's staff, Coach Joyner in particular."

Hardy made a point of mentioning the men's basketball team before the selection show began. The Pirates' 14-18 record included a MEAC semifinal appearance in the last game of a season that began in sorrow after the October shooting death of senior forward Theo Smalling.

"(Joyner) had a lot of obstacles," Hardy said. "Whenever you lose a student-athlete, you really never know that impact that will have on the young men that are competing. We knew that was a major obstacle that I hope will never happen to anybody else again. Under the circumstances, I think he did an admirable job."

Smalling's presence has hovered over HU athletics all season, and Monday night was no exception. Six briefly broke down as he talked about a text message he'd received from Smalling's mother, hinting that his team's MEAC championship may have been the result of a little otherworldly intervention.

"Everybody knows that Theo was the ladies' man," Six said. "The text said, 'Congratulations, Lady Pirates. I should have known that Theo was going to go with the girls.' "

Big Easy

When I heard that Old Dominion was going to New Orleans for the first round of the NCAA, my initial reaction was to yell as loudly as any player or parent gathered around the television. N'awlins may be my favorite place on earth, where I can find some of my favorite people. I've visited the city in good times and bad, for me and for the place, but something about the warm Gulf air always soothes my soul.

I'm hoping that happens again this time, for lots of reasons. My hotel is by the convention center, the site of so much suffering in the days and weeks following Katrina. I'm hoping the stories of rebirth and revitalization in the wake of the Saints' Super Bowl win were real and lasting. The city - and its people - deserve nothing less.

In that spirit, I thought y'all might be interested in some previous blog postings, originally published in December of 2006 during my first post-Katrina visit to a place that has always brought me peace. The first details the stark reality I found, the second the spirt that reality could not crush. I hope I find that again on Wednesday, right by the river.

A kind of recovery
You would think it happened yesterday.

Or last week. Or maybe two months ago. Most definitely within this calendar year.

But Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005. And time stopped.

I ventured outside the familiar, friendly boundaries of the French Quarter this afternoon, to see how the rest of this city was recovering, nearly 16 months after Katrina. The short answer: in far too many places, it's not.

My tour guide, Brian Allee-Walsh, has lived in New Orleans and worked as a sportswriter at the Times-Picayune for 30 years. Twenty of those were spent in a three-story, split-level house at the corner of Porteous and Colbert streets in a neighborhood called Lake View, in Orleans Parish. That house no longer exists.

Brian drove us to the empty lot that once held his house, four grand old oak trees and all that his 18-year-old daughter - the youngest of the three girls he pictured getting married underneath the trees' all-compassing branches - ever knew of home.

"We lost everything," he says, looking at the scar of earth next to a neighbor's house, missing windows and oozing an air of abandonment.

Thinking this would mean, like past evacuations, a two-week stay at the beach, Brian's family grabbed some clothes and headed out, leaving behind photo albums, knick-knacks, the things that accumulate in a home over two decades.

Now, "When you reach for something, you go, 'Oh, I lost that,' " he says.

Brian watched the news. He knew what awaited his family - or so he thought.

"It doesn't hit you until you see it," he says. "I thought I was prepared, and I wasn't."

The house was not repairable. The family returned to the area for good from Houston after this past school year ended, and not long after, Brian - currently renting a house in Algiers Point - barbecued burgers across the street as a wrecking ball sliced through the four columns that held up his house. It fell in a shockingly short time.

"You talk about years and years of memories ... In 55 minutes, the house was down," Brian says.

Still, Brian uses the word "fortunate" over and over. His family is healthy. He had insurance. He plans to rebuild here, if he ever receives the federal grants that are moving at a glacial pace toward the 120,000 or so applicants. He wasn't sure he wanted to, but looking for other houses - which now cost upwards of $300,000 - convinced him to build on land he already owned.

Others in the neighborhood have made the same decision. New houses are already being constructed, some by the same owners, some by speculators who snapped up available lots. Brian fears a McMansioning of his neighborhood, but he is more concerned about houses like the one beside his lot - left to rot from the inside out.

"It's 15 months," he says. "People should have made a decision what they're gonna do by now. If you aren't coming back, tear it down."

One neighbor made a decision immediately. The man, who has a large Christmas list on his lawn with requests such as "Category 5 levees" and "Local businesses to return" says he was gutting his house while it was still being flooded. He decorated last year, he says, for Christmas - and Halloween.

He seems like a brisk, take-charge type. But don't get him started about insurance companies.

"They want to see pictures and receipts for everything," he says. He told his agent, just give me an estimate on a normal bed. Wouldn't you assume we owned a bed? The response, he says: 'No, we wouldn't assume you had a bed.' "

Behind his house, the 17th Street levee stretches, with a football field-sized chunk under repair. This is where it broke, sending water from Lake Pontchartrain - just across the street and populated today by the innocuous sails of catamarans - streaming toward houses.

"We would have done OK, had the levees held," Brian says.

The truth of the matter is, Brian's family did do OK - comparatively speaking.

Past the University of New Orleans - with its Lakefront Arena still too damaged to play host to basketball games - lies East New Orleans. My taxi driver from the airport yesterday had described this region with one word: "Gone." He's not too far off.

Apartments, like the Chimney Wood complex, are missing huge sections of roofs. Tiny FEMA trailers squat in clusters - none featuring a blow-up Santa like the one atop a trailer in Brian's neighborhood. A man shoots a basketball in one parking lot, steps from a Dumpster with trash spilling out of the top and onto the ground.

A shopping center is completely destroyed. Standing water breeds bacteria in the parking lot, while a broken sign lists against a building that looks like it has been bombed.

But this is not the worst. We exited I-10 at Elysian Fields Avenue and took a left onto North Claiborne Road. Rounded a curve and entered a different world.

There are messages everywhere in St. Bernard Parish: "Put your bus/office/food here on lot" and "Look, FEMA." Chalmette High School, Brian says, served as a shelter of last resort for those who couldn't or wouldn't leave. Some died there.

There are symbols painted on the houses, with the dates they were checked, and indications of whether bodies were found inside.

This did not happen yesterday. But it happened here, in the United States of America, the greatest, richest country on earth.

Brian talked about looking forward to helping rebuild his neighborhood - though he knows some of his neighbors will never be back. Orleans Parish's population stood at 480,000 before the hurricane, he said. There may be 200,000 people now.

"It's gonna be a much smaller New Orleans," he says.

Yes. But we all should feel diminished.

Something in the air

It's the same.

I was apprehensive about returning to New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. I worried that the floodwaters had washed away the particular, soul-soothing laissez-faire of the city that I'd only been to three times, but is one of my favorite places on earth.

The news-footage New Orleans I saw a year and a half ago was reeling in the refuse of overflown levees and stamped with the imprint of abject misery. Could anything remain of the city that used to beckon with a coy smile and tease with a gentle Gulf breeze?

I found the answer as soon as I left my hotel, took a right on Canal Street and headed toward the spires of the St. Louis Cathedral standing sentinel in the distance. The wrought iron balconies were still draped with lush green ferns. Shops steeped in the smell of old books and displaying vintage-enough clothes still sounded a siren call for what little money I had in the back pocket of my jeans.

Restaurant menus were still penned on sidewalk boards, with carnvial-style barkers eager to point out any specials you may have missed. Men still said Good morning as they hosed down the concrete outside of their businesses. The Blue Dog still commanded his art gallery on Royal Street, though even he had a political message on one of his potraits: Throw me something, FEMA.

The Bone Lady greeted me in Jackson Square. She offered to tell me my fortune, but I had neither the cash nor the courage to acquiesce. I walked on, passing two thin, long-haired men with gnarled gray beards sitting on a bench. In front of them was a wheelchair decorated with bright red and gold Christmas bows.

As I awaited the arrival of my cafe au lait and plate of beignets, a trumpeter serenaded me with Silent Night. Behind me, a fountain by which I once smoked cigarettes with a man I thought I loved gurgled. Today, I celebrated breaking both bad habits. I ate all three beignets, every last bite, as pigeons pecked at the snowdrifts of powered sugar at my feet and the trumpet player launched into Jingle Bell Rock.

I crossed the streetcar tracks and climbed the stairs to the brick walkway that winds along this southern finger of the Mississippi River. Sunlight glinted off the grayish water, remants of the morning fog still trapped in its reflection. It looked so tranquil, so benign.

Dr. Saxtrum plied his horn and his trade as tourists strolled by. As Katrina made landfall, he said he opened his front door to find a lake in his front yard. He made it to a friend's house, and they decided to evacuate to Branson, Mo. But first, he waded back 16 blocks through waist-high floodwaters "to get my horns."

On the cab ride from the airport, the taxi driver told me about the 11 hours it took him to drive 15 miles as he tried to evacuate the day before the hurricane. He pointed out the still-visible high water marks as we drove down the highway. He described coming back three days after the storm, long enough to collect his belongings, before leaving again for five months. "It was a ghost town," he says, in a voice flavored with French Cajun spice.

He asked me where I was from, and I told him about the Newport News/Norfolk area. I started to tell him that I liked it because there was lots of water. I didn't finish the sentence.

The trumpet player segued into Amazing Grace as I tried - unsuccessfully, I'm sure - to dab away all the sugar particles from my not-so-wisely chosen black T-shirt.

On down Decatur Street, Elisabeth was working the same French Market jewelry stand she first stood at in 1982, where she was in college. A lifelong resident of Belle Chasse, about 25 minutes northwest of New Orleans, she said her home was spared significant damage from Katrina. But her business is still feeling the effects.

It was actually better, she said, right after the storm, when more people seemed to be coming to the Crescent City, intent on proving things could get better. Now, she said, optimism has been replaced with weariness.

"People just don't have as many illusions anymore," Elisabeth said.

I bought a pair of earrings, tagged at $7. Elisabeth said they were $6, which became $5 when she didn''t have enough ones to change my $10 bill.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the Ninth Ward, to see what I can't as I walk back through the French Quarter to my hotel. I want to experience all sides of this city that has sheltered me in times both good and bad, but always in kindness. I doubt that I will smile as often as I did today. But I want to feel as much, if not more.

Before I got up to leave my table at Cafe Du Monde, the trumpet player took a break from his Christmas-themed set to belt out a few, simple notes immediately recognizable to anyone who ever sat in a Sunday School or nursery class.

The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again

Whirlwind week

With all that's happened to area college teams this week, a deep breath and a little review seems in order.

First, a major shoutout to the Christopher Newport women, who saw their spectacular season end in a 74-69 loss to Rochester in the Division III Sweet 16 on Friday. It was expected that the Captains, who returned two- (and sure to be three-) time All-American guard Chelsie Schweers and a surrounding cast of characters form last year's first-round NCAA apppearance, would be good. But 30-1 good? CNU coach Carolyn Hunter deserves much credit for keeping her players grounded and focused on each opponent, and said players deserve credit for buying into the one-game-at-a-time mantra. Can't argue with the results. (And let's not forget the CNU men, who salvaged an otherwise disappointing season with an improbable USA South tournament championship, earning coach C.J. Woollum his 500th victory in the process). As for the future? Well, every major contributor - including Schweers, who'll be a senior - is back next season.

The Old Dominion women came within a game of returning to the NCAA tournament, but couldn't re-establish a championship streak at the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. ODU fell 67-53 to James Madison in Sunday's CAA title game, but the Lady Monarchs' season (which has an outside chance of continuing with an at-large NCAA bid) remains noteworthy. Coach Wendy Larry, named the league coach of the year for the eighth time, got more from a team with less overall talent than she had last year and guided it to the CAA regular-season championship. Senior forward Jessica Canady, arguably ODU's best player, was hobbled all year by knee problems but still managed to average 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds. Junior guard Jasmine Parker (11 ppg) stepped up as the team's new floor leader, junior guard Shadasia Green (10.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg) showed gritty determination, and sophomore Tia Lewis (10.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg) delivered big-time in her first season. The even better news? Everyone in that group except Canady is back.

Perhaps no scene in March Madness better personifies the excitement and unique atmosphere of the NCAA tournament than teams huddled around a TV, eager to see their postseason fate unfold. The Old Domininon men's team, 26-8 and winners of both the CAA regular season and tournament titles, did that yesterday, whooping and hollering and high-fiving when players learned they'll play Notre Dame in New Orleans on Thursday. The Monarchs go into their first Big Dance since 2007 as the 11th seed, and their board presence - ODU outrebounds opponents by 8.8 boards per game, third-best in the nation - makes them a matchup concern even for a team seasoned by the physical play of the Big East. Junior guard Darius James gets to re-visit the city where his brother went to college at Tulane, while senior guard Marsharee Neely and senior foward Gerald Lee, who leads ODU with 14.6 points per game, will bookend their college careers with NCAA tournament trips.

The Hampton women, coming off their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship, get in on the party today, learning their NCAA destination at a 6:30 p.m. selection show celebration. Sophomore forward Melanie Warner was named the MEAC tournament MVP, while conference defensive player of the year Quanneisha Perry made the all-tournament team for the Lady Pirates, who have won six straight games and 14 of their last 15. That seems like more than enough to get the "interim" removed from head coach David Six's title. Six, who spent a year in HU's athletic department after a successful high school coaching career, proved he can coach and motivate players at the Division I level, and will soon have the NCAA tournament banner to prove it. And it may not be his last - Perry is a junior, and HU loses just one senior.

(The Hampton men made a run to the MEAC semifinals in Ed Joyner's first year as head coach. The Pirates finished 14-18, but the job Joyner did in keeping his team together in the wake of senior forward Theo Smalling's shooting death in October can't be measured in wins and losses).

And it's not just the Big Dance that's worth celebrating. The NIT, once the granddaddy of the postseason events, is now relegated to second-tier status, but when a school has made just one postseason trip in 105 years of basketball, a second one is something to savor. William and Mary will travel to North Carolina tomorrow night to take on the Tar Heels in an interesting-on-many levels first-round NIT matchup pitting former UNC player and CAA coach of the year Tony Shaver and his team against the defending national champions. Tribe seniors David Schneider, Danny Sumner, Steven Hess and Sean McCurdy get to play at least one more game in a season that has already produced the third-most wins in school history (22) and, on the face of it, would have seemed to have merited a first-round NIT home game. But no one's really grousing in Williamsburg, where the dancing shoes are as pretty a fit as anywhere else.

March 12, 2010

Clothes horses

In this brave new world of online-focused journalism, there's a push for more blogging from us print reporters. So I'm taking this opportunity to bring back a little thing I did years ago when I covered the ACC. (This is where most men will want to get another beer). I'm re-launching the Best- and Worst-Dressed coaches debate. To me, it's a hot-button issue.

Among CAA contenders, I give ODU's Blaine Taylor props for taking some paisley risks with his ties. Paisley ran amuck in the 70s and has since been given, in my opinion, a bad rap. Done with restraint, in a small, dark pattern, it can work.

William and Mary's Tony Shaver - the other mustachoied man in the CAA - is always impeccably turned out, working his team's green and gold colors into his suits in a subtle, well-done way.

Which brings me to today's ACC tournament. Coaches trying to work orange - always a tricky choice - into their esembles are having varied results. Good: Frank Haith, who tucked a vibrant orange tie instead a well-tailored, three-button navy jacket. Bad: Billy Donovan, who let the orange in his patterned tie run amuck, and Bruce Pearl, whose tie hurt my eyes. All neckwear is not created equal, especially in HD. But I guess we all can be grateful Pearl was wearing a shirt.

I will say this, though - Sidney Lowe takes a lot of flak for the Tomato Jacket, but tonight, his lighter-patterned (paisley!) tie and pocket square (I do love a pocket square) is making the bold look work, at least more so than when he tries the solid-but-not-quite-same red tie.

SATURDAY UPDATE
Props to Paul Hewitt. I was intially unsure about but have grown to love and respect his navy blazer with gold almost-pinstripe stitching. Walking the line between good taste and showmanship with flair and agility.

But for the most disturbing thing I've seen this week (thanks, fashionista and longtime ACC hoops fan Mary-Kathryn), check out Bob Huggins' messy mustard melange. I used to chastise Huggy Bear for his track suits. I take it back. And now I'm officially speechless.

(sorry, copying and pasting will be necessary until I get a bit more computer-savvy).

Mounting madness

I’m not one to engage in long-winded bracketology discussions before Valentine’s Day, but now that we’re a mere two days away from Selection Sunday, let the speculating begin.

The pressing questions on the minds of Colonial Athletic Association fans: What seed will Old Dominion earn, and who and where will the Monarchs play? That’s too much nuance for my Magic 8 Ball, so I had to turn to Google instead.

ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi – who looks WAAAY too happy in the mug shot above his selections – has the Monarchs, whose 26-8 record includes both the CAA regular-season and tournament titles, a ninth seed in the South bracket, taking on No. 8 Oklahoma State in Buffalo. A single-digit seed doesn’t seem too lofty for a team that dominated a quality conference and beat then-No. 11 Georgetown earlier in the season.

On SI.com, a mock media bracket made the Monarchs an 11th seed, with their opponent a seventh-seeded Richmond team. This matchup would provide an intriguing regional battle and rematch of the Spiders’ 67-60 win on Dec. 2. (And, in an aside of no importance whatsoever to the NCAA selection committee, would make me very, very happy, as the Big Easy is my favorite city on the planet. I can taste the crawfish etouffee and the Dixie beer now).

Not everyone is as enthused about this scenario. SI analyst Seth Davis, breaking down each region, picks ODU as the underseeded team in New Orleans, but opines with authority, “I don’t feel that strongly about this one, but I had to choose somebody.”

Finally, something called the Bracket Project (which is not a collective of underutilized English professors frustrated by improper use of grammatical devices), projects ODU as a 10th seed in a little something it calls the 2010 National Bracket Matrix, no sites or opponents included. I imagine Keanu Reeves greeting this news with a slightly furrowed brow, a hint of puzzlement on his handsomely blank face. But then again, that’s the only expression I’ve ever seen on his face.

I think ODU, which was seeded 12th in its past two NCAA appearances (in 2005 and 2007), deserves at least a 10 seed. The Monarchs are a long, physical team, capable of dominating opponents on the boards, who mix man-to-man and zone defenses with a dexterity to make Jim Boeheim proud. ODU could be a matchup problem for a team unfamiliar with its style of play, and an upset waiting to happen for one unhappy with a fair-to-middling seed looking ahead to the second round.

ESPN analyst Adrian Branch gave the Monarchs some love on Friday night, mentioning senior forward Gerald Lee’s scoring ability (14.6 points per game) and comparing his body type to Tim Duncan. Somewhere, Blaine Taylor’s mustache twitched. How’s a team supposed to sneak up on somebody with yaps running like that?

(For those of you who argue about such things around a last-call beer at 1 a.m., and to prove how well I can read game notes, here is a lot of practically useless information. ODU is 2-9 in 11 NCAA appearances, with its last win coming in 1995 in an 89-81, triple-overtime victory against Villanova. The Monarchs, a 14th seed, went on to lose to Tulsa in the second. ODU’s other NCAA win came in 1986 against West Virginia, when the Monarchs were an eight seed, their highest NCAA seeding to date).

All will be revealed beginning at 6 p.m., when the NCAA selection show starts on CBS. Will the committee get it exactly right? Don't count on it, but what fun would that be?

Now, on to the team the Monarchs beat in the CAA tournament final and the feel-good story of the year in the conference. William and Mary (22-10) isn’t in the NCAA conversation thanks to hide-your-eyes losses to the likes of UNC Wilmington and Towson (although the talking heads agonizing over the resumes of the Rhode Islands and Georgia Techs of the world - sorry, subpar ACC - could do worse than to take a look at the Tribe). But an NIT trip would mean more in Williamsburg than in most places.

The Tribe made just one previous postseason trip in school history – and at William and Mary, “history” is a weighty word, in this case meaning 105 years – when it went to the 1983 NIT. Hanging another banner in Kaplan Arena would be huge for the program, its fans and a senior class that has played a gargantuan role in transforming the Tribe from perennial losers to conference contenders.

William and Mary will, in all likelihood, have to wait longer to learn its postseason fate, as the NIT selection show doesn’t start until 10 p.m. And, sadly, I don’t have a serious enough case of March Madness to sit here and look up mock NIT brackets. But the Tribe’s strong season, which includes wins at Maryland and Wake Forest, should be enough to give it a first-round home game.

While the Tribe’s season wasn’t enough – barring an unexpected development that will cause my sports editor’s excitable head to explode – to earn it its first-ever trip to the Big Dance, it has impressed a few folks.

The coaching honors keep rolling in for Tony Shaver, tabbed the CAA Coach of the Year last week in a vote of his conference peers and CAA media and sports information directors. On Friday, Shaver was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I District 10 Coach of the Year, on the heels of his selection by Sports News as the CAA Coach of the Year.

Shaver has also been named as one of 15 finalists for the CollegeInsider.com Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year award.

A short list of Shaver’s credentials: William and Mary’s 22 wins are the third-most ever and most since the 1949-50 season. The Tribe won a school-record 10 road games, becoming the first school in CAA history and just the sixth mid-major to knock off two ACC teams on the road in the same season. William and Mary was the only team to beat Maryland at home and the first ever to beat Wake at home during the month of November.

The Tribe’s 12 CAA wins are the second-most in school history, and its first-round tournament bye was its first since the league expanded in 2002. William and Mary’s 14-3 start, which earned it votes in national polls, was the best in school history, and the Tribe also tied a school mark with a 10-game winning streak.

Good enough for an NCAA at-large bid? My sources say no. An impressive feat nonetheless? It is certain.

March 9, 2010

Program's progress

Two.

That's how many wins William and Mary managed in the first 18 years of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

Five. That's how many the Tribe has in the last three.

William and Mary made its second CAA championship appearance in three years on Monday night, not as Cinderella, as it was two seasons ago, but as the No. 3 seed. The Tribe fell 60-53 to the clear class of the league, a 25-8 Old Dominion team that also won the regular-season championship, to end the season with 22 wins, its most since the 1949-50 season and third-most in school history.

"I’ve coached for 30-some years and been around some good players and some good teams, but I’ve never been prouder of a basketball team than I am this one," said William and Mary coach Tony Shaver, who has produced six CAA tournament wins in his seven years at the helm of the Tribe. "I mean that sincerely. As a coach, you never set a goal of 25 wins or 20 wins or 15 wins. You simply want your team to be as good as it can be, and this team’s pretty good to being as close as it could possibly be."

Even with the disappointment of coming one win shy of their school's first-ever NCAA appearance still stinging, William and Mary players could appreciate what they've done this season - and, for the Tribe's seniors, in the past four.

"I think we’ve accomplished some great things in our career," Danny Sumner said. "We made it to two CAA championships. We got a 20-plus win season this year, and we’ve knocked off some upper-echelon teams."

But this season, which included wins against Wake Forest and Maryland and votes in the national polls for the first time since the 1977-78 season, was about more than wins and losses.

"Our team camaraderie and how well we bonded together throughout the entire season - I think that’s led us here, and I think that’s one thing that will continue through a lifetime," senior guard David Schneider said.

Sumner, Schneider and forward Steven Hess, along with point guard Sean McCurdy, a transfer from Arkansas, will leave William and Mary's program in a much better place than it was four years ago.

"I’m sorry they’re not going to get to play in the NCAA tournament in a week, but they’re special kids who have had special careers here," Shaver said. " ... This team came within minutes of playing in the NCAA tournament, and that’s something to be proud of."

March 8, 2010

Big tip on tap

What is Tony Shaver reading? What is Gerald Lee thinking?

An hour and a half before tipoff in tonight's CAA championship, pitting nearby rivals William and Mary and Old Dominion for the tournament crown and an automatic NCAA berth, Shaver, the Tribe's coach, is seated on on folding chair on the floor of the Richmond Coliseum, studying a sheet of yellow legal paper with great concentration. Meanwhile, the huge video screen hanging in both end zone flashes footage of the Monachs, led by senior forward Gerald Lee, getting off the team bus and heading into the locker room.

The Monarchs (25-8) are the regular-season champions, the top seed and likely to get a spot in the Big Dance win or lose. The Tribe (22-9), the third seed, is trying to keep alive a magic carpet ride of a season - which has reached the 20-win plateau for just the third time in the past 58 years - and earn its first NCAA trip in 105 years of basketball.

ODU swept the Tribe in two regular-season games, winning a nailbiter in Williamsburg before dominating the second half in Norfolk. In 90 minutes, William and Mary gets a chance at revenge - and a whole lot more.

Signs in the Tribe section section read "We believe" and "Let's dance" and, in perhaps an auspicious sign for William and Mary, the Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps just played the national anthem. For those looking for a good sign for the Monarchs, on the CAA website's live stats, ODU's opponent was still listed as TBA for most of the first half.

March 7, 2010

Third time lucky?

The old sporting adage holds that it's hard to beat a team three times in one season.

So how does William and Mary keep that from happening against Old Dominion in tonight's CAA championship game?

Senior swingman Danny Sumner says it's simple: take care of the basketball, shoot a high percentage, and rebound. Senior guard David Schneider said the Tribe can draw upon the experience of its surprise run to the tournament final two seasons ago. And William and Mary coach Tony Shaver believe his players will have to keep trusting the all-for-one, one-for-all mentality that's gotten them this far against the top seed and regular-season champs.

"Clearly we’re playing the team that deserves to be the top seed right now, but we believe in this basketball team," Shaver said. "… I’m not sure, from a talent perspective, that we match up with Old Dominion real well, but as team, we think we do. We’ve played very well together as a team all year long, and I think we’ll do it again tomorrow."

Schneider, whose 3-pointer with 36 seconds left - his only make of the game - lifted William and Mary over Northeastern 47-45 in Sunday night's semifinal, has already imagined what it will feel like to hoist the tournament trophy (which, incidentially, also would give the Tribe its first-ever NCAA appearance).

"I’ve pictured that for four years," Schneider said. "But I just want to hold it with my teammates."

March 4, 2010

A different feeling

For William and Mary head coach Tony Shaver, named the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year at Thursday night's awards banquet, his award isn't the only thing different about this weekend's conference tournament.

"I was coming down here to the banquet and getting nervous about playing tomorrow," Shaver said. "I had to stop myself. I don’t want to get nervous yet."

Shaver's team, 20-9 and 12-6, is the third seed in the tournament and earned a first-round bye for the first time since the tournament expanded in 2002. So instead of playing tomorrow, the Tribe will watch the Drexel/James Madison game. William and Mary plays the winner Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in a quarterfinal.

Shaver, who got 36 first-place votes in balloting by league coaches, sports information directors and media members, was surprised to win the award.

"I always thought, a lot of times in sports, one of the more difficult things to do is to be picked to win a league and win it," Shaver said. "ODU and Northesatern were picked up top and they finished up front."

That said, Shaver wasn't planning to give his award to ODU's Blaine Taylor, who received six coach of the year votes, or Northeastern's Bill Coen.

March 1, 2010

Homecourt advantage

Hunter was reasonably certain that her 28-0 Lady Captains were going to play host to the first round of the NCAA Division III selection committee. But as a member of the selection committee, she had to worry about where the other 63 teams were going.

"I was up for most of the night," she said.

When talk turned to CNU, though, Hunter couldn't listen in.

"When that time comes, we’re off the call," she said. "I don’t get to hear people’s opinion of where they think I stand or anything like that."

Hunter's team plays Washington and Lee (18-9) on Friday at the Freeman Center.

"We’re thrilled to be hosting," she said. "We have a comfort zone here. ... Just being familiar with everything, our facilities, sleeping in your own bed, the whole deal really plays into playing well that day. Your psyche, your mental (approach), that’s all taken care of."

The CNU (15-12) men travel to Guilford (26-2) on Friday. Below are the links to the men's and women's D-III brackets.